The Pirates have claimed right-hander Enyel De Los Santos off waivers from the Phillies, per a team announcement. Lefty Steven Brault was placed on the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Brault left his most recent appearance with tightness in his arm and was placed on the 10-day IL with a lat strain. The Pirates did not provide any update beyond the 60-day IL transfer, which will formally end Brault’s season.
De Los Santos, 25, was once a well-regarded prospect in both the Padres’ and the Phillies’ farm systems. San Diego sent him to Philadelphia in the Dec. 2017 trade that brought Freddy Galvis to the Padres. He appeared in the Futures Game for the Phillies the following season and made his big league debut that summer. Santos appeared in seven games that year, starting two of them, and pitched well outside of one poor outing. Overall, he notched a 4.74 ERA that season through his first 19 MLB frames — plenty respectable for a 22-year-old rookie.
Things haven’t gone as hoped for De Los Santos since that time, however, He’s pitched to a 6.92 ERA in 39 subsequent MLB frames, and while he’d been borderline dominant with Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2018,he served up a 4.40 ERA at that same level the following year. De Los Santos has previously been designated for assignment and gone unclaimed on waivers, but the Pirates scooped him up with the No. 3 waiver priority this time around. The Orioles and D-backs passed on claiming De Los Santos.
Part of the reason for the newfound interest could simply be one of having a straightforward path to making room for De Los Santos, but his work on the field this season is also somewhat intriguing. Granted, a 6.75 ERA in 28 frames isn’t much to look at, but De Los Santos’ 95 mph average heater is a career-best mark in the Majors. He’s also punched out 30.7 percent of his opponents, logged a very strong 14.9 percent swinging-strike rate and induced chases on pitches outside the strike zone at a 33.9 percent clip — all career-highs. Opponents have swung at De Los Santos’ pitches a career-high 54.2 percent of the time and made contact a career-low 72.2 percent of the time.
If he survives the offseason and Spring Training on the Pirates’ roster, De Los Santos will need to break camp with the club or else once again be designated for assignment (or traded). He’ll be out of minor league options in 2022, so he won’t be able to be sent down without first clearing waivers. And at that point, even if he were to go unclaimed, he’d have the option of electing free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s previously been outrighted once in the past.
As for Brault, he’ll look to get back to good health and put behind him what has been a largely nightmarish season. Brault missed most of the season with a strained lat and made just seven appearances before going back on the injured list with a recurrence. He posted a 5.86 ERA in 27 2/3 innings while battling that pair of injuries.
That said, Brault has been a largely serviceable long reliever/fifth starter for the Buccos over the past several seasons, including a strong showing in 2020 when he posted 42 2/3 innings of 3.38 ERA ball. The 29-year-old carries a 4.68 ERA in 315 2/3 innings and will be arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter. Brault’s strong 2020 resulted in a $2.05MM salary on his first trip through the arbitration process, and he’s unlikely to see much of a raise this winter thanks to the limited workload he compiled. Pittsburgh controls him through the 2023 season.
….now where does Vinnie Velo land….
Like the nickname
Removeyouridiotnamefrommlbtraderumors
Actually it’s a clever nickname
Kids! Come upstairs and get some cookies Mom baked fresh for you. You need to get out of the basement and go outside!
It’s a nice day outside. Stop leaving inane comments.
COOKIES!?!? NUM NUM NUMM ME LIKE COOKIES!
Assuming no work stoppage, i’m guessing February 3rd (of 2022) before the Bucs sign someone over the league minimum
AAA Pirates what a disgrace this guy belongs with that team as he will help them lose more games.
Bob, the scary thing is your statement might not be true – the Pirates are so bad De Los Santos might help them WIN more games!
Getting ready for Phils series, De Los Santos has an incentive to shut them down.
This move made too much sense.
Can’t wait for him to shutdown the Phillies offseason next week.
*offense. not offseason.
You were right the first time. The Phillies are already thinking about the offseason after losing 3/4 to the Rox.
Oh I think they were toast after getting swept by Arizona, but the Rox really brought it home. Phillies are once again their own worst enemy. Ironic, because they have a winning record against in division opponents (tied against Mets, winning against everyone else), but they’ve lost crucial series to the Pirates, Diamondbacks and Rockies.
Von just goes to show you how stacked the NL West is.
Yes and no. Honestly the Diamondbacks and Rockies are so terrible. The NL Rasy didn’t really have that until the Nats dumped everyone at the trade deadline. The top 3 in the NL West is very good though. The Phillies just play down to their opponents. They’ll play the Dodgers tough and then lose to the Rockies.
wish him well. talented, but I dont think the issues are fixable.
Wouldnt the Pirates have second waiver priority because the Orioles wouldn’t be able to pick until he has cycled through the national league since he’s a national league player?
i dunno. i keep getting told that league specific waiver priority isnt a thing anymore, but MLB.com says its still league specific.
I think its league specific until the trade deadline, then worst team first regardless of league. Or its the opposite…. one way or the other.
Your basic Statue of Liberty pickup…your tired, wretched refuse looking for a spot on a 40-man roster.
This guy gets it
I don’t know what’s worse…. The Pirates constant losing or the boorish fans that complain about a simple waiver pick up that didn’t cause the team to get rid of anyone else. Some people just complain to complain
Are you complaining about people complaining?
I really don’t understand the complaining either. Getting a player without losing a player is always a win-win. Its really an embarrassment of riches in Pirate-nation.
You got that right. Seems no matter what the pirates do, they get bashed. Rebuilding. And they had nothing to lose picking him up. So go look in the mirror and see if its you looking back or a chooch
So, you are saying they are Yinzgrates?
“Why are people complaining about this low risk move that might net the team a guy who is the 39th or 40th best player on their already terrible roster?”
Probably because it’s the only type of move they are expected to look forward to until 2025.
This is huge if true.
It is many things, but I don’t see it as huge. Enyel De Los Santos has not impressed, but change of scenery and all that.
When he came into the philly games it was akin to a fireman bringing kerosene to a fire…. Maybe the Pirates can fix him.
The secrer problem not acknowledged enough in Philly, is that huge blown saves are so frequent because the offense rarely pulls away. In my opinion the offense is the biggest problem.
Good riddance to a horrible pitcher.
@von – not sure how you can attribute blown saves to the offense – you need to have outscored the opponent to even be in a position to blow a save…
However, if your point is that the offense almost never rescues a blown save, then you’re probably on to something.
Yea. Sorry not fully explaining myself. I’m not attributing blown saves to the offense. It’s just when you blow a 2-0 lead and everyone crucifies the closer, I’m pointing to the fact that the Phillies offense did virtually nothing against terrible pitching. The Phillies bullpen has been significantly better since the trade deadline, but the offense has went to sleep. Phillies bullpen was a huge problem last year and the first half of this year. But during the stretch, when things really mattered, it was the offense that crumbled.
Sadly, he is the epitome of AAAA pitcher.
Happy the Pirates are trying Enyel.
Given all of the other moves, not selling as high as possible on Brault instead of hoping against all probability that he would increase that value seems like a curious decision.
I agree, high as possible was still pretty low (before injury) Most teams have a similar type of pitcher coming up through the system they could drop in and have similar performance. I believe the hope was he would continue the success of the 2019 ( he finished strong ) and 2020 and then have a dead line piece that would bring more value.
If they couldn’t get a overbuy deal the might as well keep a cost controlled rotation pitcher.
hopefully he hits spring strong.
Why do Pirates sign pitchers from teams that have horrible bullpens? I would only claim pitchers from good teams like the Dodgers and Rays.
they generally pick up high potential pitchers. almost none of them worked out. Before injuries derailed his career (twice) Nick Burdi was a pretty big success in this department. His stuff is/was just nasty you could tell when the injury was coming on because he dropped off hard, when he went down on the pitch that finished him… … ug wasn’t pretty.
Why not?
2021 bucco motto (same as 22 and 23)